Computer system and method for controlling additional chassis added to computer system

Abstract

Regarding an additional storage chassis used by being connected to a basic chassis equipped with a storage controller, provided is a computer system capable of changing or updating a firmware environment of the additional storage chassis so that normal operation of the additional storage chassis can be secured on the user side even if the operation different from the operation, which was guaranteed at the time of factory shipment, is executed on the user. The present invention provides a computer system including a basic chassis equipped with a storage controller for controlling data I/O between a host computer and a storage system, and an additional chassis equipped with a plurality of storage drives to configure the storage system, wherein when a connection-target additional chassis is connected to a connection-source additional chassis connected to the basic chassis, the storage controller compares a data communication attribute of the connection-target additional chassis with a data communication attribute of the connection-source additional chassis and updates the data communication attribute of the connection-target additional chassis in accordance with a comparison result.

1 . A computer system comprising:
 a basic chassis equipped with a storage controller for controlling data I/O between a host computer and a storage system; and   an additional chassis equipped with a plurality of storage drives to configure the storage system;   wherein when a second additional chassis is connected to a first additional chassis connected to the basic chassis, the storage controller compares a data communication attribute of the second additional chassis with a data communication attribute of the first additional chassis and updates the data communication attribute of the second additional chassis in accordance with a comparison result.   
     
     
         2 . The computer system according to  claim 1 , wherein the storage controller updates firmware of an enclosure controller for the second additional chassis based on:
 an attribute of the firmware of the enclosure controller as the data communication attribute of the first additional chassis; and   an attribute of an expander as the data communication attribute of the second additional chassis.   
     
     
         3 . The computer system according to  claim 2 , wherein the storage controller determines an optimum revision of the firmware of the enclosure controller belonging to the second additional chassis. 
     
     
         4 . The computer system according to  claim 3 , wherein the basic chassis includes a memory for storing a plurality of revisions of the firmware of the second additional chassis; and
 wherein the storage controller identifies firmware of an optimum revision of the second additional chassis among the firmware of a plurality of revisions in the memory and downloads the firmware of the optimum revision to the enclosure controller belonging to the second additional chassis.   
     
     
         5 . The computer system according to  claim 2 , wherein the storage controller determines the optimum revision for the second additional chassis according to a data communication standard type of the basic chassis. 
     
     
         6 . The computer system according to  claim 3 , wherein the storage controller determines the optimum revision of the firmware of the enclosure controller belonging to the second additional chassis as one having an attribute capable of supporting a maximum data communication speed supported by the first additional chassis. 
     
     
         7 . The computer system according to  claim 4 , wherein the storage controller compares a current revision of the firmware stored in the enclosure controller belonging to the second additional chassis with the determined optimum revision and determines whether or not to update the firmware of the enclosure controller belonging to the second additional chassis to the firmware of the optimum revision. 
     
     
         8 . The computer system according to  claim 7 , wherein if the storage controller compares the current revision of the firmware stored in the enclosure controller belonging to the second additional chassis with the determined optimum revision and these revisions are different from each other, the storage controller updates the firmware of the enclosure controller belonging to the second additional chassis to the firmware of the optimum revision. 
     
     
         9 . The computer system according to  claim 7 , wherein if the storage controller compares the current revision of the firmware stored in the enclosure controller belonging to the second additional chassis with the determined optimum revision and these revisions are the same and a version of the firmware of the optimum revision is newer than a version of the firmware of the current revision, the storage controller updates the firmware of the enclosure controller belonging to the second additional chassis to the firmware of the optimum revision. 
     
     
         10 . The computer system according to  claim 7 , wherein if the storage controller compares a data communication standard supported by the second additional chassis with a data communication standard supported by the determined optimum revision and these data communication standards are not identical to each other, the storage controller does not update the firmware of the current revision to the firmware of the optimum revision. 
     
     
         11 . The computer system according to  claim 7 , wherein if the storage controller determines to update the firmware of the enclosure controller belonging to the second additional chassis to the firmware of the optimum revision, it executes diagnostic processing on the second additional chassis based on the comparison result to judge whether the second additional chassis can achieve data transfer properties required by the firmware of the optimum revision. 
     
     
         12 . The computer system according to  claim 11 , wherein if the storage controller determines that a result of the diagnostic processing on the second additional chassis is normal, it downloads the firmware of the optimum revision from the memory to the second additional chassis. 
     
     
         13 . The computer system according to  claim 11 , wherein if the storage controller compares the current revision of the firmware stored in the enclosure controller belonging to the second additional chassis with the determined optimum revision and these revisions are the same, it executes the diagnostic processing in a simple manner. 
     
     
         14 . An additional chassis control method for a computer system including:
 a basic chassis equipped with a storage controller for controlling data I/O between a host computer and a storage system; and   an additional chassis equipped with a plurality of storage drives to configure the storage system;   wherein when a second additional chassis is connected to a first additional chassis connected to the basic chassis, the storage controller compares a data communication attribute of the second additional chassis with a data communication attribute of the first additional chassis and updates the data communication attribute of the second additional chassis in accordance with a comparison result.